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showed some exquisite touches and lovely passing today. what a player.

i really hope mancini doesnt rotate him alot, he is a game changer imo, the playmaker we have lacked for ages.

I am absolutley pissing myself at some people saying "he is finally looking the player he is" and "i always had faith in him, he just needed time"

He's been here 5 mins ffs!!

the_georgian_genius wrote:I am absolutley pissing myself at some people saying "he is finally looking the player he is" and "i always had faith in him, he just needed time"

He's been here 5 mins ffs!!

Creative players like him fail as often as they succeed in the Premier league so it's quite natural for people to be concerned if he's off the pace, looking fragile & passing the ball to the opposing team quite a lot. Today he was up with the pace, put a good shift in & played some superb passes. Very encouraging.

looks pretty average to me, would prefer AJ in the team.

london blue 2 wrote:looks pretty average to me, would prefer AJ in the team.

so would i, but at the expense of one of the defensive midfielders. doubt that'll happen though.

Mike J wrote:

london blue 2 wrote:looks pretty average to me, would prefer AJ in the team.

so would i, but at the expense of one of the defensive midfielders. doubt that'll happen though.

I would pretty much without exception have AJ in the starting 11 in the prem - I think this lad has a very bright future ahead of him, hes young,strong, gifted and confident - he can unlock defenses with ease and knows where the goal is.

I hope he doesn't become a player who is under used - he needs to play. I was disappointed to see that Milner is taking corners from the right hand side since his arrival instead of AJ. Fair enought to mix it up a bit (inswingers and out swingers), but don't take them all away from him!

Mike J wrote:

london blue 2 wrote:looks pretty average to me, would prefer AJ in the team.

so would i, but at the expense of one of the defensive midfielders. doubt that'll happen though.

I would pretty much without exception have AJ in the starting 11 in the prem - I think this lad has a very bright future ahead of him, hes young,strong, gifted and confident - he can unlock defenses with ease and knows where the goal is.

I hope he doesn't become a player who is under used - he needs to play. I was disappointed to see that Milner is taking corners from the right hand side since his arrival instead of AJ. Fair enought to mix it up a bit (inswingers and out swingers), but don't take them all away from him!

Mike J wrote:

london blue 2 wrote:looks pretty average to me, would prefer AJ in the team.

so would i, but at the expense of one of the defensive midfielders. doubt that'll happen though.

Thats what i said on learning todays lineup in fact i said to my lad he should have played AJ instead of Barry.

should have played aj instead of milner ... milner was too one paced in this game and his passing was off. Having AJ whizzing around the wing would have made a big difference earlier in the match.

AJ on the right silva on the left ... all swapping around with carlos tevez, would have been a great attack.

gillie wrote:

Mike J wrote:

london blue 2 wrote:looks pretty average to me, would prefer AJ in the team.

so would i, but at the expense of one of the defensive midfielders. doubt that'll happen though.

Thats what i said on learning todays lineup in fact i said to my lad he should have played AJ instead of Barry.

In hindsight it should have been AJ instead of Milner, he had a 65% pass completion and gave up the ball 5 times, although it seemed a lot more.

I'm not entirely convinced Silva came here to star in our group stage Europa league campaign

he needs to get hours of perm football under his belt and as many starts as possible to become acclimatised to English football

Mancini will IMHO live or die by his ability to manage the morale of the dressing room

I do not think that Mancini is inexperienced when it comes to managing a large dressing room. Inter has always had a massive squad from youth on up ... not to mention that he had to somehow get financial destitute squads such as lazio and fiorentina to produce while taking up to 80% pay cuts. i'd say that takes some tight dressing room control.

When you see players like ade speaking out, it does not mean that mancini doesn't have the dressing room, it means that ade will soon be gone. I think one reason craig left (not bringing up anything controversial about craig's influence in the locker room but... ) was because he was just too outspoken. Mancini seems old school in this regard, the manager is the one that meets the press, the manager is the one that gives information ... everyone else must present a unified front. You think dealing with Ibra at inter wasn't an exercise in controlling out of this world ego's?

I have total faith in mancini in this regard, and I hope as the team gels the tactics become a bit more clear, though i think I get the jist of what he is doing.

When this chap is fully up to speed with the prem, he will be immense.

Pat is right he needs more game time in the prem. Also if he needs aclimatising then a wet wednesday in the Carling Cup at West Brom will see what he's made of.

You all seem to be struggling a bit with the theory behind this rotation lark.

Ted Hughes wrote:You all seem to be struggling a bit with the theory behind this rotation lark.

Keepers excluded (so far)

Patrick wrote:I'm not entirely convinced Silva came here to star in our group stage Europa league campaign

he needs to get hours of perm football under his belt and as many starts as possible to become acclimatised to English football

Mancini will IMHO live or die by his ability to manage the morale of the dressing room

Nah, I think his hair is much nicer straight.

I think he's done what can be expected of a very gifted spanish player who's spent his whole career in la liga. What stands out for me is his workrate, and that he actually does throw in a tackle now and then, he actually seems quite powerful for his size, way ahead of the likes of Elano or Petrov in the defensive aspect imo.

Martinez wrote:I think he's done what can be expected of a very gifted spanish player who's spent his whole career in la liga. What stands out for me is his workrate, and that he actually does throw in a tackle now and then, he actually seems quite powerful for his size, way ahead of the likes of Elano or Petrov in the defensive aspect imo.

Elano's defensive work was good for a weedy little brazillian IMO.
Did well at right back for us.

Every game that Silva plays he is getting better and better, great vision and brilliant technique - good to see the creativity on the pitch.

Have to agree with AJ though, Milner was next to useless on the left and was a little better when Yaya went off and he moved more central - but I would have still prefared a line up with AJ and Silva together.